The Life Of Ryan June 21st-27th

On Sunday, I was blessed to perform the special music during the morning service.  I played “Glorious Day,” which is an updated version of the hymn “One Day.”  Michael Bleecker arranged it while searching for a song for his congregation to sing on Easter morning.  Boy, did he do well.

I bought some new books!  Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller, Atheism Remix by Al Mohler, A Guide to Historic Coal Towns of the Big Sandy River Valley by George D. Torok, and Tobacco Culture by John van Willigen & Susan C. Eastwood.  I’ve started Tobacco Culture, so my love for oral history has found another object of affection.

Saturday night, after BreAnne and I ate dinner at a Japanese steakhouse, we went to Horse Creek Baptist Church and heard a praise and worship band which represents Southeastern University.  Incredible.  If anyone gets a chance to hear them, don’t pass it up.

The Life Of Ryan June 14th-20th

On Monday, my pastor and I met Jaron and Diego from New Jersey.  This summer, they are cycling through the country to raise awareness and funds for a charity which sponsors those with brain injuries and it’s research.  We were able to pray with them and give them some pointers for navigating the area.

There was quite a stir over storms moving through our area Tuesday night.  Several severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings were issued, but at the time, the skies looked relatively calm.  Then, within minutes, my wife and I saw this front moving in:

 

At a local convenient store, my total came up to $6.66.  The cashier promptly charged me another penny.  I quipped that if paying an extra penny made her feel better, I would gladly pay it.  She didn’t get the joke as she was very serious about the superstition.  She gave me $3.35 in change, so I actually paid $6.65.

On Saturday afternoon, my wife and I had a fantastic Father’s Day meal at her parent’s home.  That evening, we prepared dinner for my father and mother.  Spending time with family is a treat.  I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The Life Of Ryan June 7th-13th

Finally, I received my Behringer Truth monitors.  Both of them.

The Rain City Hymnal is incredible.  I downloaded it Friday.  Excellent modernization of some great hymns.  More info can be found here.

I started walking this week.  I walked somewhere around 12 miles in one particular two-day period.  I enjoyed being outdoors and taking in the scenes at the park, on the nature trail, and in downtown.  I felt great after doing so, too.  I hope to have the time to make this a habit.  Or a hobby.  How about a hobbit?  Wait … that won’t work.

I suggest that everyone grab Jason Lovins Band‘s new record as soon as possible.  From what I’ve heard, its going to be chock-full of some great songs.

Speaking of songs, I’ve had some issues with recording software that has set me back a bit in my endeavor to record some of what I’ve written.  Oh, well.  All in God’s time.

Aside from the monitors, the print I ordered from Kodak arrived this week.  It looks really good.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Now all I have to do is get it framed and convince my wife to put it up right in the living room where everyone can see it.

The Facebook URL rush was forgotten.  I lost.  I wound up having to settle for http://facebook.com/rcornett.

I’m starting to get used to Safari 4.  I miss the progress indicator in the address bar.

The Life Of Ryan May 31st-June 6th

Sunday was senior Sunday, so the LIFE service praise team had the evening off.  I went to Liberty Worship Center that evening.  I thought the service started at 7 pm.  It started at 6 pm.  That was awkward, but hey, those folks are like family, especially my parents.

I started a book entitled “Tales from Kentucky Doctors” by oral historian William Lynwood Montell. It’s a phenomenal collection containing some memoirs of bluegrass physicians.  Whether about house calls made or medical school recollections, the stories are extremely interesting.  Judging from my enjoyment of this book, “Taking Up Serpents,” and other oral histories I’ve read, I hold an undeniable appeal for the works of folklorists.

BreAnne and I finally bought a Wii.  Why did we not buy one of these sooner?  We’ve had a blast!

I still haven’t received my items from Musician’s Friend.

My wife and I tried to watch “Slumdog Millionaire” Saturday night.  It was too non-linear for me. Just when I got interested, the timeline of the story would shift.

I ordered a print from Kodak.com.  I’ll let you know how it looks.

Young People Unafraid To Share Their Faith

When I came home yesterday afternoon, there were two young ladies in a small, blue Honda Accord attempting to turn their car around.  I just parked my car and gathered my things.  I figured they were either lost or friends with my neighbor.  When I stepped out of my car, the girl in the driver’s seat poked her head out of the window and informed me that they were there simply to pass out invitations.  ”Great.  Thank you,” I stated cordially (in my experience with going door to door cold-calling potential customers during previous jobs I gained a respectful and sympathetic attitude toward solicitors).  So, I walked to my door and was greeted by a flyer inviting me to an event in Johnson City, Tennessee, a Q&A-type brochure, and the Watchtower magazine.  I folded them in half and threw them away.

Those young ladies were unafraid.  They were smiling.  They wanted to be doing what they were doing.  Their eagerness to get out and spread their message reminded of a conversation I had many years ago with a dear friend of mine:

“Why don’t Christians get out and proselytize like Jehovah’s Witnesses?”

“Because Satan doesn’t mind them doing so.  He does mind Christians getting out and sharing their faith.  So, he’ll do what it takes to stop them, which isn’t much.  Those spreading false religions don’t have that obstacle.”

If half of the time I spent volunteering for the youth ministry at my church was spent taking our youth and witnessing to the lost instead of policing our youth while they ate meals; sang silly songs; were taken to the movies, to a concert, to an amusement park, to a water park, or to a festival; played basketball; or were taken on a scavenger hunt, then perhaps our church would be filled with even more young people.  Or, if those youth would have been out sharing the Gospel maybe they would have remained in church once they graduated high school.

Regardless, Christians rarely get out and testify of the redemption they have through Jesus Christ.  Many religions which follow false gods are kicking Christians in the butt when it comes to spreading their message.  Yesterday was an excellent reminder of that sad fact.

The Life Of Ryan May 24th-30th

 

I started a book about Flash CS4.  There are a series of projects in the book which lead to one large project.  Flash is an intimidating undertaking.

Dave Letterman made me laugh out loud this week.  That was the first time in a long time – possibly ever.  It was the same night as Leno’s final show.  I didn’t watch.

I finished “Taking Up Serpents” by David Kimbrough.  An excellent oral history of snake-handling in eastern Kentucky.

Apparently, I am quite special!  In the Manchester Enterprise, I was mentioned as a featured guest at the Reading Celebration, last week, alongside some pretty important characters.

Being mentioned in the same paragraph with such venerable characters is overwhelming.

  

I fixed baby-back ribs in the oven for the first time.  My wife really enjoyed them, but hasn’t been very hungry since.  They must have tasted good that night, but once the taste stayed in her mouth into the second day, she got tired of it.

I ordered an item that is a pair from Musician’s Friend.  I received one half of the pair.  After contacting customer service, I was informed that I would have to send the one I received back in order to get the two I ordered.  That – doing things the hard way, things that are unnecessary – sounds like the federal government to me.

A pair of my best friends became engaged this week.  Congratulations Chris & Tiffany!

My good friend Kenneth and I watched “Bedtime Stories” Saturday night.  No “Happy Gilmore,” but very entertaining.

Gonna Try Baby-Back Ribs

If you’ve read many of my previous posts, you know that I enjoy cooking foods I’ve never cooked before. Even though I just finished cooking cheeseburgers (you can never put too much lemon pepper on the patties while cooking, and those enormous pickles, chopped thick, make the burger 100% better), I immediately started contemplating tomorrow night’s meal.

My wife informed me that she would be home late, so I decided to attempt the ribs, since they need a couple of hours to cook. I got the baby-backs out of the freezer, ran some luke-warm water over them, put them in a bowl, and laid half a bottle of barbecue sauce on them. Now, as they sit in the fridge being tenderized and flavorized (is that a word?), I’m thinking about the dry rub I will apply tomorrow just before baking.

My list of possible candidates is salt, pepper, sugar, garlic, paprika, oregano, cayenne, and onion powder. Am I leaving anything out? Any suggestions?

Thoughts on BreAnne’s Surgery & Recovery

In early March, when my wife BreAnne and I travelled to Lexington to see her neurologist, I was convinced that he would be amazed by the fact that her second brain scan, an MRI, would disagree with the CT scan previously performed.  I was certain he would tell us that the prayers must have been effective and that her brain tumor was gone.  However, Dr. Pittman came into the room and told us that he had viewed the MRI and agreed with the colloid cyst diagnosis other doctors had given.  I was depressed, disappointed, and even shocked.  I was positive that the Lord was going to miraculously heal her.  “Our heavenly Father wouldn’t allow my wife to go through this” I thought.  Of course, to my disbelief, I was wrong.  To add to the devastation, Dr. Pittman informed us that the cyst was in a difficult place, and endoscopic surgery was not an option.  We had hoped and prayed that if God didn’t heal BreAnne miraculously that the doctors would be able to perform endoscopic surgery, which is minimally invasive and usually results in only one night in the hospital.  It was painful to hear that option counted out, leaving the much more involved and invasive “trap-door” surgery, which meant cutting her hair, making an incision across her scalp, making the trap-door incision, and going between the two halves of the brain in order to drain and remove the cyst.  So, not only was the cyst still there, the surgery was going to be much tougher to undergo and recover from.  Needless to say, I was devastated.

It wasn’t easy remaining strong for my wife, whom God richly blessed me with.  It was tough to concentrate at work, and even more so in my studies.  However, God brought us through.  The surgery was successful.  Dr. Pittman is very confident that the cyst will never be a problem, again.  BreAnne recovered her strength and memory.  My wife and I and our families became closer than ever.  BreAnne’s lovely hair is coming back, and she has returned to work.  God met our need.

It’s now been two months since the day of BreAnne’s surgery and I still don’t necessarily understand why BreAnne wasn’t healed miraculously.  Myself and hundreds of the redeemed across many towns, states, and time zones prayed for God to simply take the cyst away.  I had never had so much faith that God would do an amazing work.  However, God chose not to heal her that way.  He chose to use her doctors, nurses, family, and friends.  Although I haven’t learned the answer to my question about how God dealt with BreAnne’s condition, I did learn that the prayers I and countless others prayed for her so that she would be healed, albeit not miraculously, were answered.  I learned that God knows our need.  I also learned that God knows our story – not only how it began and how it is unfolding, but also how it will end.  That is certainly a faith-sustaining lesson.

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Its Been A While

Hello!  Well, BreAnne is doing great.  She went back to work this week.  She’s even found the energy to help Tabitha out with wedding preparations.  Her big day is tomorrow.  So, here I am at home, keeping an eye on the weather and listening to the album Again, For The First Time by Bleach.  I thought about catching Star Trek tonight, but I decided to hold out in the hopes of going with a couple of friends.  I am out of school.  Summer is here!  So, with that being the case, its time to get to work on some music.  The songwriting is done and the pre-production will be complete within the next 2-3 weeks, hopefully.  That’s what is up on my end.  What about yours?